Full-Text Articles in Legal History

Titles Of Nobility, Hereditary Privilege, And The Unconstitutionality Of Legacy Preferences In Public School Admissions, Carlton F. W. Larson

Washington University Law Review

This Article argues that legacy preferences in public university admissions violate the Constitution's prohibition on titles of nobility. Examining considerable evidence from the late eighteenth century, the Article argues that the Nobility Clauses were not limited to the prohibition of certain distinctive titles, such as “duke” or “earl,” but had a substantive content that included a prohibition on all hereditary privileges with respect to state institutions. The Article places special emphasis on the dispute surrounding the formation of the Society of the Cincinnati, a hereditary organization formed by officers of the Continental Army. This Society was repeatedly denounced by ...